Bloodstained memories
by Classic-Color
Summary: Only the Avatar can restore balance to the world, Right? Right? Well, sorry to hurt Aang's feelings, but Zuko just ran into a mysterious girl who has the power to stop the war herself. But neither she nor he knows it yet. What would she do once she finds out? Would she give up on her happiness? What would he do once he finds out? Would he give up on his love?
1. Blood rush

Zuko and I were in our room, trying to relax (at least one of us was trying to, Zuko was just walking back and forth in the room mumbling to himself) I was wearing a roomy kimono and was serving myself some tea.

Zuko had taken off his armor and preferred wearing pants with no shirt (ahh, the age when I was able to afford myself to walk around like this…)

"We are wasting our time, this is nuisance, he would get there before we even had a chance to launch our ship," Zuko growled pacing from one corner of the room to the other.

"Patience is of the essence," I say, sipping my tea calmly ignoring his flurry temper, because of fatigue and mostly because of habit.

"No, no, time is of the essence" Zuko replies, seeming on the verge of knocking the cup out of my hands, which leads me to sip my drink yet again before it might be spilled.

It was a long, tiring day and I can't blame my nephew for being furious; He discovered the avatar, captured the avatar, got his ship wracked by the avatar, and managed to get himself and his crew to a safe fire-nation province only to be questioned and challenged by admiral Zhao to the hunting of the avatar. (Hmm, I think his anger has something to do with the avatar…)

Yep, it is surely a lot to take in for one day and Zuko is behaving accordingly.

Zuko is still rumbling when I'm awaking from my thoughts (was he rumbling this whole time?) and would have probably continued if not for the sudden knockings on our door.

I'm rising from my chair to open the door, knowing that my dear nephew finds it unfitting for a prince (even a banished one) to be seen opening doors.

I unlock the door, and while smiling I greet the stranger "Hello, how can I help you?" but to no response.

I lower my eyes to the figure that stands before me: Judging by the height, I guess that it's a 'she' though her body is covered with a cloak and her face are hidden with its hood.

Despite the darkness outside, I manage to get a glimpse of her face when she raises her head a bit to look at me; A pair of ruby colored eyes is shining in the darkness, staring right at me and although I'm stunned for a second when seeing those unique eyes I can sense the massage beyond them: 'Help me!'

Without thinking, I move myself from the door, allowing the girl to step inside. Once again, her eyes speak clearer than words and I can see the gratitude in those red gems.

When standing in the light, I see that her cloak is of a deep-shade of red and reaches her knees, which are very pale, a result of either coldness or a lack of sun or exhaustion or perhaps, all of them together.

She is breathing heavily, body trembling and hands shaking. Zuko, who stopped pacing by now, approaches her slowly and carefully for she seems like she would panic from any sudden movement around her "It's alright, you're safe now, you can relax" He says, reaching a hand to touch her shoulder but she stumbles back, right into me then turn around sharply, awaiting my reaction.

"He is right, you are safe here, we don't wish to harm you, in fact, we are quite confused right now as well," I tell her cheerfully, "now you just sit down and relax and I'll make you some tea, my tea works wonders when it comes to soothing people's mind, right Zuko?"

Yeah, sure, let's ask for opinion from the one who has never been impressed, let alone soothed, by my tea.

Fortunately, Zuko only replies in a short "Yes" still taken aback by our mysterious guest, whom, by now, seems to calm down a bit and looks at me as I'm making her tea. At least I think she is looking at me, for her face is fixed in my direction.

"Don't worry milady, I'm not poisoning it or anything" I joke but she insist on watching my every move as if saying 'one can never be too safe'.

I can't blame the girl for being nervous. She only managed to escape from devil-knows-what and found herself with a weird old man and a shirtless teen all in one room.

As I approach her and Zuko, holding a tray with 3 cups of tea and some cake I hear knocks on the door yet again. This time the knocking is louder and is closer to banging.

**Well, there you have it, the very first chapter of my very first avatar fanfiction. **

**I had a fever and I didn't go to school today so had nothing else to do. I uploaded it on a whim without even consulting with my beta-reader… She'll kill me when she find out.**

**Please review, so I would know if the Avatar fandom is still out there and if there are still some potential readers.**

_Next chapter: honorary ego, power games, and too much tea for Zuko's own good._


	2. Bloody hell

Our guest starts shaking again, franticly searching for a hiding place or an escape hatch. I motion for Zuko to get her out of the room and he applies, a dark look on his face as he grabs the mysterious girl by the arms and practically shoves her away, seeing she can barely move out of fear.

Once they're out of my sight I open the door yet again and with a plastered smile I greet the strangers "Hello, how can I help you?" seeing the cold expressions on the men faces I understand that I have might as well skipped my greetings. They are not here to play around.

The men (there are 6 of them) all examine me with evil looks and one of them says "We are searching for a runaway prisoner and have a reason to believe she is hiding in this hotel and so we are to check every room. Now, if you would just move out of our way and let us do our job…" he finishes with a tipping off tone.

"Gentlemen, you are talking to the firelord siblings, how can you even suspect us for cooperating with a convict against the fire nation?" my voice manages to stay friendly, but it does have some of the tipping off tone I've received a minute ago.

The speaker of the group is now less confident, but is confident enough to manage: "General Iroh, I apologize for the inconvenience but my orders were…"

"Your orders don't apply for me, unless they were given from first-degree relatives of the firelord. Now, I don't recall ordering any search party. Zuko, Do you?"

"No uncle, I don't recall such thing, and I must say that I question the value of any relative of mine who would order 6 soldiers to search for one girl" Zuko, who just now appeared from the other room, answers calmly, eyes like daggers on the men standing in our doorway.

The soldiers seem to lose their ground, and begin bowing respectively and back away when something, or someone to be accurate, stops them:

"Good evening, there seems to be an interesting scene here. I'm sorry for meddling in other people's business but you know me, my curiosity is triggered easily…"

"Zhao" Zuko growls, his fists are clenched so tight that his knuckles turn white.

"Well, you look happy to see me your banished highness, Oh common, don't tell me you're still mad because of our little fight earlier, It was nothing personal, I was only doing it for the safety of the fire nation, sorry if your feelings were hurt".

As admiral Zhao finishes his heart moving speech, I realize that my fists are clenched as well. This man has gone too far, obviously choosing his words carefully so each of them will throw another punch at my nephew's shattered pride.

"Please admiral, no need to be so sensitive, my nephew just can't stand people who let others do the hard work for them, and are coming to assist only at the end, in order to receive the reward that was meant for others. But obviously, this is not what you meant when investigating him for every detail that he found out about the avatar, am I right?"

I can see that my words work both on Zuko, who now stands straight, eyes fixed on his rival, and on Zhao, who seems to be lost for words, but not for long…

"Ehm, what seems to be the problem?" he coughs, turning to the soldiers.

A different soldier answers this time, I assume the other one had had it with our honorary ego "Sir, we were ordered to search for a runaway prisoner; however, they won't let us enter the room to do so."

Surprisingly, admiral Zhao just laughs and assures them that a runaway criminal would never find a shelter with the royal family and gesture them to move on and continue with their search.

They obey his command, though reluctantly, and leave the area, but as anticipated, Zhao is not in the hurry do to the same.

"Now that was an issue over a tissue. Can you believe it? They actually thought that someone could have sneaked under your noses and hide in here. How illogical…" Zhao fakes a laugh, leaning on our door.

"Yes, illogical indeed" I agree "now Admiral, if you would be so kind, me and my nephew were about to have some tea when this whole incident started," I excuse ourselves and intend to close the door, but the admiral stops me. 'Why did I even think it would work?'

"You must be very thirsty General Iroh" Zhao says, indicating the three cups that were sitting on the tray.

"Well, Zuko here had a taste for some extra tea, long day you know." I laugh nervously.

"Oh, is that so? Well then, Zuko, would you mind if I join in this little tea party of yours and excuse myself with your second cup of tea?" The admiral's eyes narrow to slits as he awaits Zuko's response.

"Yes! I do mind. No one takes away my tea" Zuko roars like a lunatic and before me or the captain manage to say anything he grabs the three cups and gulps them down one by one.

Zhao's expression changes from suspicious to disgust as Zuko hands me the empty cups. My expression, on the other hand, changes from joy to delight. Finally, my dear nephew has found the spiritual experience that is hidden in this extraordinary drink.

"Well, it was cold anyway" I'm saying with a sly smile to the admiral.

Zuko wipes his mouth with the back of his hand before saying "I'll be heading on to bed now, good night" and falls face flat to his bed exhaustedly.

"Well, if that would be all, my nephew and I would like to call it a night now. Long day as I had already told you" and with that I close the door in front of Zhao's face before he manages to protest.

I place my ear on the door and when I can no longer hear Zhao's footsteps, I whisper "he's gone".

**For heaven's sake, can someone tell me what Zhao's rank is? Is he a captain/general/admiral? What?**

**Anyway, are you proud of me or what? (I know I'm proud of myself) two chapters in less than 15 minutes. **

**Frankly speaking, this chapter and the previous one were actually combined but I divided them to two chapters because it was starting to get too long for my liking.**

**Review please, so my** **conscience would stop tormenting me for my defective list of priority.**

**It's like: conscience: What do you think you're doing?**

**Me: writing some fanfics, Yay!**

**Conscience: And you're aware of the upcoming history test?**

**Me: Well, yes but…**

**Conscience: But nothing, no more fanfics for you till the end of the semester.**

**So how about some reviews to prove my conscience wrong?**

_Next Chapter: and our special guest star is… What's her story anyway? _


	3. Red as blood

"Well, now that was refreshing" I sigh, moving away from the door.

Zuko mumbles something though it's kind of hard to understand since his face are buried in the pillow.

"What is it nephew? You want another cup of tea?" I ask hopefully.

"Never again, I don't want to see another cup of tea in my whole life. When I become firelord I'm gonna ban the tea leaves!" he declares and once again his tone is somewhat of the lunatic and then he becomes serious all of the sudden "Think he is on to us?" he sits on the bed, back bend and elbows leaning on his knees.

"He is on to something alright, we'll have to watch our…" my sentence dies at once as our guest shows up from the other room.

She is still wearing her cloak but the hood no longer shades her face: She looks young, about 16 if I were to guess. Her features are delicate and sweet, not the ones I would attach to a criminal. In fact, she looks like a beautiful noble woman.

Just seconds ago I was beginning to wonder if the unusual red eyes I've seen hasn't been a trick of the light but now, seeing her face, I realize that nothing is usual in this girl's appearance.

The hood, that was now removed, reveals a snow-white, silky long hair that encircles the girl's face and gives a soft contra to the deep color of her eyes. Surprisingly, her eyelashes are raven black, framing the eyes and making them stand out even more.

Overall, I understand why her eyes left such an impression on me, helping me understand what she was trying to express.

Tearing my eyes from the girl and focusing them on Zuko, I see that he is in shock, fascinated by the beautiful girl.

I am in a shock too, but it is not her look that causes the shock but the memory it triggers.

'It's her, It's defiantly her, and this whole time I thought it was over' the thought hits me like a wave hits the shore, and just as another wave is guaranteed to follow, a tidal wave of thoughts is rushing in my head, however, I pull myself together quite quickly.

'If it's really her' I think 'then the last thing I should do is to get lost in thoughts'. I push the memories to the corner of my mind and turn to the girl.

"You should be safe now. You can stay here, or leave right now, we won't try to stop you, but we would like to have some answers if you choose to stay here," I state her options, leaving her with the decision. As she nods her agreement, I realize that there might have not been a real choice here, since if she were to choose the second option she would have ended up playing right into the hands of her seekers.

"Alright, you can sleep in Zuko's bed, we would like to hear what you've got to say first thing on morning" I say dryly then heading to bed.

Zuko snaps out of his shock to the sound of his name "What? Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"I'm sorry. Have you heard me saying anything about you not sleeping in your bed?" I say sarcastically while fixing my sheets.

Zuko gives me a furious glare, then opens his mouth to say something but then reconsiders, settling for a one quick dirty look.

"Fine, you can sleep in my bed" He tells the girl, moving his package from the bed and dropping it to the floor.

The girl looks at him, then at the bed and back at him again, and points a finger at him, tilting her head in a questioning manner.

Zuko is confused for a second "Me? Err, I'll sleep on a blanket on the floor, it would be alright," he reassures her "I'm Zuko by the way, and that's my uncle Iroh" he introduces us and when he mentions my name I shut my eyes tightly, pretending to be asleep 'I hope she doesn't recognize me' I pray without a sound.

To my relief, and to Zuko's irritation the girl replies with a single nod of acknowledgment.

"And you are?" Zuko asks, dropping the soft tone he used next to her so far and rasping his words as he usually does.

Instead of answering, she turns her back to him and walks over to the window.

"You shouldn't stand there, someone might be outside" Zuko warns her but she ignores him.

She blows on the window until it is covered with steam and then runs her fingers across it, forming the letters:

Y

U

K

I

"So your name is Yuki" Zuko states the obvious, focusing on the letters. I, on the other hand, focus on the way in which they were written, leading me to ask the girl directly:

"Are you mute?"

As the girl nods to both of the questions, the realization dawns on me 'So much for my answers…'

**I know what you're thinking "What do you mean she is mute? We heard her talking in the first chapter!" Yes, you're right, but after planning the plot through I came to the conclusion that it is necessary and had no choice but to fix it. **

**In addition, thanks to xRoosiee review, I have finally found out what Zhao's rank is and so I changed that too. **

**You can reread the two other chapters, or just believe me when I'm telling you that Yuki is unable to speak.**

**Please review, the next chapter won't be uploaded until I get at least 6 comments. (Here I am talking big, as if I won't upload it anyway…) but I really want to hear what you guys think of the story so far.**

_Next chapter: Memories disguised as dreams._


	4. memories

"Ah, the underground mansion" I call once my eyes are adapted to the darkness, which covers the place like a heavy, grayish-black, blanket.

The hooded figures next to me don't seem to share my enthusiasm to the sight of the beautiful, believed to be lost, castle. They simply exchange looks (Which makes me wonder: How, in the name of the silver dragon, do they manage to see something through these hoods?) and as if they were given a sign, they all enter the castle gates one by one.

"Dad!" a sudden pull of my sleeve reminds me the existence of another human being in this mysterious place, "Dad, maybe I can stay here, wait for you, watch your back?" says a young Lu-Ten, trying to sound braver than what he really feels…

I pet his head quickly, lowering myself to meet his gaze (I barely need to bend my knees in order to do so, which makes me realize that my young boy is growing up quicker than any parent is willing to admit)

"Why, that would be a great idea son, and an excellent proof of your bravery" I tell him with a big smile and with a last pat on his back I turn to leave, but not before saying "Watch out for those mole-monsters for me, will you son?"

It works perfectly! Before I know it, I'm once again accompanied by Lu-Ten, shaking like never before. Truth to be told I'm quite relieved he joined me, not only because it allows me to keep an eye on him in this suspicious place but also because it allows me to spend less time alone with those strange people.

As we enter the castle, one of the men (at least I guess he was a man) indicates me to follow him, but when I do so, he blocks my way, pointing a finger at Lu-Ten then shakes his head. So much for me keeping Lu-Ten safe, and him keeping me company. I give my son a reassuring look and turn to leave but he asks me in a quiet whisper "What about the mole-monsters?" Oh great, Have I know we were going to be separated, I wouldn't have filled his head with those baloney.

The black figure seems to be losing his patience and I look at him and at Lu-Ten alternatively, wondering what to do, when a voice comes from behind me "What mole-monsters?"

I turn to look as a young girl, not older than 5, steps out of the room into which I'm supposed to enter. She has a very unique look, as accepted for such a unique place. She brushes her snow-white hair behind her shoulder and runs to Lu-Ten "I never saw any monsters in here, would you care to show me?"

Lu-Ten blushes a little and I allow myself to follow the man into the room, hoping the little girl would keep Lu-Ten busy. So distracted I was, that I wasn't even trying to think why was a little girl being held captive in such place. But the moment I entered the room, and the moment the leader of the dark figures started to speak, I understood perfectly why she was here and what role she was to play in their, no it would be wrong for me to say so, in our plan. I couldn't believe it, I didn't want to believe that the world I live in would use such an innocent child for such a corrupted scheme.

This thought haunted me for a long time, as the gathering was over and I went to search for Lu-Ten, I took the chance to tour the mansion and studied its passages. One of those passages led me to a balcony no less, a balcony (!) should have figured that if this place was to live for its title it should have at least one decent porch, as bizarre as it might be.

While standing on the balcony edge, I watch from above over… Well, not much. The underground mansion was never known for its breath-taking landscapes and gorgeous view. It was a good place, however, for those who sought secrecy and invisibility and in this certain case; it was exactly what they, oh, there I go doing it again, what _we_ were after. What was happening between these walls was to remain a secret, unknown to anyone but those who are involved in it.

Suddenly, a sight worth seeing is revealed to me. Just below the balcony, two out of place characters are seen playing pretend. My dear son, Lu-Ten, is playing the hero/knight/prince he was always taught to be, while the girl (my heart aches as I look at her) he had just met, had already volunteered to be his damsel in distress/princess.

"Oh, who will save me from the terrible mole-monsters?" She calls in a melodramatic tone, as my son jumps forward, holding an imaginary sword in his hands "Worry not milady! I shall save you from this monstrosity!" and then, right after a bunch of what I assume was suppose to be some fancy fencing he sticks his imaginary sword at the creature, and wins the battle.

I laugh heartily to the naïve display of a happy ending, in which a 10 years old can take an enormous beast down all by his own.

The show goes on, as the prince swifts his princess off her feet, well at least trying to, for they both fall clumsily to the ground, seeing as the girl is probably heavier than she looks.

Once they get over the shock they finally notice me and race up the flight of stairs that leads to the balcony.

"You put quite a fight out there, this mole-monster had no chance" I tease him lovingly and he turns red and lowers his head. My sarcasm, however, seems to slip off the girls' notice as she announces "Oh yes! He was amazing, he saved my life"

Lu-Ten, who is in the middle of mumbling "She talked me into it… I'm too old for playing pretend…" stops dead on his tracks as she says that and looks at her surprisingly, blushing yet again. His mumbling now turns into "It was no big-deal, really" but the girl insists "Yes, it was a big deal, thank you! You are now my hero, which means you always have to come to my rescue!" She declares in triumphant and Lu-Ten is confused for just a second, but then pulls himself together, takes her hand and assures her: "Yes! I will be your hero and will always be there to save you".

'Ah, young children, it is love that guides their every move, though it is so gentle that it can easily escape our notice' I think dramatically. However, my heart goes out for the girl, and for them, for I know that there will be no love awaiting for her, and even more so, I'm not sure that there is anything awaiting for her except for pain and death, and not even her hero would be able to stop this. But a voice that suddenly comes from behind me seems to be thinking otherwise.

"Well well", the voice, which belongs to the head of the hooded figures, causes chills down my spine. "That's an interesting turn!"

I awake from my dream, and then rise from my bed at once, the sudden quick movements causes spots to dance in front of my eyes. Once the shock is over I take a deep breath and study the room;

The pale light of the moon reveals my dear nephew, sleeping on an improvised bed made of blankets, and it doesn't slip my notice that he is covered in a very certain, red hood. The hood reminds me of its owner and I switch my gaze to our guest, Yuki who is sleeping on Zuko's bed.

Though the bed seems to be comfortable, her sleep doesn't seem to be so good; she toss and turn in her sleep, mumbling something though no words come out, her forearm shelters her eyes all along, as if trying to block a really strong light.

"Seems like we are both having nightmares huh?" I whisper quietly, and then I add to myself "An interesting turn indeed." And with that, I once again lie on the bed and let the memories disguised as dreams to take over me yet again.

**Yoohoo, I'm back! Finally, tests are over. Didn't think they would take so much of my time (but I guess that is what you get when you put school as your first priority…) **

**Anyway, I had to remind myself what were my original plans for this story, for I totally forgot, but even when I did remember, I was hit with an even more brilliant idea, so I guess the long pause was for the best eventually. **

**So read, review and enjoy. Hopefully, now that the vacation starts, my updates will be more frequent. **

_Next Chapter; How in the world are we suppose to get out of here?_


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